Mark Zuckerberg’s Four Qualities of Success

Mark Zuckerberg, Time magazine’s Person of the Year, might be very much like you. Once you realize those attitudes, values, and behaviors you have in common, you might decide to also take the road less traveled — which could lead to unusual accomplishment.

Let’s look at some of them. For instance, are you:

1. An outsider

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According to the experts, outsiders see things that insiders totally miss. In his life in general and at Harvard, no question, Zuckerberg didn’t fit in. But it’s up to you to have the confidence to accept what you’re seeing as real and then to leverage that insight to create anything from a new gadget to a breakthrough system of thought to a political revolution. Outsiders lose this gift when they become assimilated. No one knows how much longer Zuckerberg can remain an alien spirit. Yes, you have to be able to withstand the isolation.

2. Blessed with the ability to understand an entity fully but stand apart from it.

There’s a genius in being able to grasp, for example, people’s need to connect but to resist that pull force enough to work nonstop. For you, it may be your intuitive understanding of why people abuse alcohol but the sense to stay clear of the phenomenon in order to develop a provocative approach to treatment.

3. Alert

Most things don’t work. But a very few do. Zuckerberg picked up on what did work. Put enough of that together and he had his social network. Setbacks, obstacles and downright failure can dull other people’s senses — and hope. Not Zuckerberg’s. For you that means not becoming discouraged.

4. Willing to grow

Once called the ‘toddler entrepreneur,” Zuckerberg could grow into a mature leader. When he was on ’60 Minutes,’ viewers were amazed at his sophistication in controlling the conversation. Can you allow yourself to develop your strengths enough to make your weaknesses less relevant? That’s the opposite of getting stuck, the fate of most human beings.

If you’re even some of these things, then you have a shot at a whole different kind of success. The trick is to take that path of uncertainty. So few humans do.